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Conservative conference: Party gathers after double blow MP Mark Reckless's defection to UKIP senseless, says David Cameron
(about 3 hours later)
The Conservative conference is due to get under way in Birmingham with the Tories looking to recover from a ministerial resignation and defection. David Cameron has dismissed the defection of Conservative MP Mark Reckless to UKIP as "senseless and counter-productive".
The party was hit on Saturday by a second Tory MP in a month quitting for UKIP and a minister standing down after claims about his private life. Mr Reckless's move was followed by the resignation of a minister over a newspaper allegation, in a double blow for the PM at the start of the Tory conference.
Party chairman Grant Shapps is to give the first major speech at 14:00 BST. Mr Cameron told the BBC's Andrew Marr show Mr Reckless's defection was "frustrating".
A number of election pledges were unveiled on the eve of the conference, including fresh benefit cuts. And only a Tory government could deliver an EU referendum.
But they were overshadowed on Saturday when MP for Rochester and Strood Mark Reckless announced at the UKIP conference he was stepping down to join the Conservatives' rivals. In an echo of the statement he made when another of of his backbenchers, Douglas Carswell, defected to UKIP earlier this month, he said the choice facing voters at the next election was between a Conservative and Labour government.
Within hours, Brooks Newmark had resigned from the cabinet after the Sunday Mirror alleged the Conservative minister for civil society had sent an explicit photograph of himself to an undercover reporter posing as a female party activist. "So to act in a way that makes the Conservative government less likely is senseless and counter-productive."
The setbacks came as Chancellor George Osborne said a future Conservative government would look to make further changes to social security. 'More defections'
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, he announced plans to cut out of work and housing benefit payments to young people. The Conservative leader said he had not been aware of Mr Reckless's plans to quit but suggested the backbencher - who has triggered a by-election in his Rochester and Strood constituency - would not be much of a loss to the party because he "rarely voted with the government".
In proposals aimed at funding new apprenticeships to tackle youth unemployment, Mr Osborne also pledged to reduce the total amount individual households can claim in a year. UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Andrew Marr it "wouldn't surprise" him to see more defections, and that "Labour backbenchers are thinking about this as well".
And on Friday, David Cameron made a pitch to those struggling to get on the housing ladder, saying a Tory administration would build 100,000 homes exclusively available to under-40s at 20% below market rate. Meanwhile, former civil society minister Brooks Newmark, who has quit over reports that he sent an explicit image of himself to an undercover reporter, told the BBC he has been a "complete fool"
'Tough start' Immigration
The prime minister had arrived in Birmingham with his wife for the last conference before May's general election just before Mr Newmark's resignation. Mr Cameron wants to use his week in Birmingham to unveil a series of eye-catching policies aimed at winning the party an overall majority in May's election.
BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said his job now was to "steady nerves" and "focus on the positives". Chancellor George Osborne has said a Conservative government would cut the maximum level of benefits a household can claim from £26,000 a year to £23,000.
"But this is a tough start for David Cameron," he added. At the same time, unemployed young people aged 18 to 21 would be given six months to find work or training - after which their jobseeker's allowance payments would be withdrawn unless they agreed to take part in "community projects" such as cleaning up local parks.
Mr Reckless's defection to UKIP comes less than a month after Clacton MP Douglas Carswell made the same move. Most unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds would also be prevented from claiming housing benefit in order to leave home under the Tory proposals.
Both have said they will stand down from Parliament, triggering by-elections. Mr Cameron also promised help for young people to get on the housing ladder, saying a Tory government would build 100,000 homes exclusively available to under-40s at 20% below market rate.
As UKIP leader Nigel Farage welcomed his latest recruit, Mr Reckless told rapturous delegates at the party's conference in Doncaster: "People feel ignored, taken for granted, over-taxed, over-regulated, ripped off and lied to." But the Conservative leader has begun his final conference before the general election by defending his position on Europe amid ongoing unease among right wingers.
In his Andrew Marr interview, he promised to focus on tightening immigration rules when he attempts to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels before the referendum promised by the end of 2017.
He stopped short of saying he would recommend Britain leave the EU - and vote no in the referendum - if he failed to get the concessions he wants from the other EU nations - something his Eurosceptic MPs have been demanding.
"If I don't achieve that it will be for the British public to decide whether to stay in or get out," he said.
But he added: "I have said this all my political life: if I thought that it wasn't in Britain's interest to be in the European Union, I wouldn't argue for us to be in it."
On Saturday, Culture Secretary Sajid Javid told the Daily Mail the UK could still prosper if it chose to exit the EU.
"I think it would open up opportunities. I am not afraid of that at all," he added.
Undecided voters
Mr Reckless told rapturous delegates at UKIP's conference in Doncaster on Saturday: "People feel ignored, taken for granted, over-taxed, over-regulated, ripped off and lied to."
Meanwhile, Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft called on the prime minister to do more win over undecided voters.Meanwhile, Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft called on the prime minister to do more win over undecided voters.
"Starting today in Birmingham, Cameron must help them resolve their quandary in his party's favour," he wrote in the Sunday Times."Starting today in Birmingham, Cameron must help them resolve their quandary in his party's favour," he wrote in the Sunday Times.
"[Mr] Cameron must show that his purpose is not merely a matter of dry economics but the creation of a country where everyone can share in the prosperity that the Tories are accused of wanting to preserve for the few.""[Mr] Cameron must show that his purpose is not merely a matter of dry economics but the creation of a country where everyone can share in the prosperity that the Tories are accused of wanting to preserve for the few."
The prime minister is due to deliver his set piece speech on Wednesday as he closes the conference. The prime minister is due to deliver his set-piece speech on Wednesday as he closes the conference.